1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a printing method having an auto retreat function of print data and a medium for storing a program for executing the printing method.
2. Related Background Art
Hitherto, in an information processing system, a mechanism in which when expendable supplies such as papers or the like are absent and an error occurs during the execution of print data, a processing is suspended while processing information including the print data is held and when the expendable supplies are supplemented, the processing can be soon resumed has been provided, thereby improving a working efficiency of the user.
For example, it is assumed that papers of the A4 size and A3 size have been set in a printer and print data in which the B5 size was designated as a paper size has been sent from a host (host computer). The printer receives the print data and, at a point when it is detected that the B5 size whose papers are not set has been designated, the printer enters an error status. According to the conventional technique, the printer does not enter a status where the print data is abandoned and new print data can be processed but suspends the processing while a processing status so far is held and at a point when it is recognized that the expendable supplies have been supplemented, the printer resumes the processing. The user, therefore, can immediately obtain an output by setting papers into the printer. That is, after an error was recognized, the user does not need to perform work for sending the print data again from the host and can efficiently take a proper countermeasure against the error due to the absence of the expendable supplies.
According to the conventional technique, however, since the whole print processing is suspended at a point when the error occurs, not only the processing of the print data in which the error occurred but also the processing of the print data which is waiting to subsequently print is suspended. There is, consequently, a drawback of deterioration in print working efficiency of the other user.
For example, it is assumed that papers of the A4 size and A3 size have been set in a printer in FIG. 5. Print data A in which the B5 size was designated as a paper size is sent from a host A in FIG. 5 and, thereafter, print data B in which the A4 size was designated as a paper size is sent from a host B. In this case, according to the conventional technique, the printer receives the print data A and at a point when it is detected that the B5 size whose papers are not set was designated, the printer enters the error status and suspends the processing. The processing of the print data B is also suspended at a point when the print data B has been sent to the printer. That is, in spite of the fact that the print data B can be printed without causing an error because the A4 size whose papers have been set in the printer is designated, the print data B is influenced by the print data A which was precedingly processed, so that the processing is suspended.
If the user of the host A or the printer administrator rapidly takes a countermeasure (the papers are supplemented, the print data is cancelled, or the like) against the print data A at this time point, after the processing of the print data A, the user of the host B can obtain an output of the print data B. However, if a timing for taking the countermeasure is delayed as in the case where the user of the host A is not aware of the occurrence of the error, the case where the papers of the B5 size cannot be soon supplemented, or the like, the working efficiency of the user of the host B remarkably deteriorates.
It is assumed that there is a situation where the printer in FIG. 5 is connected to the network and many users frequently use the printer. In this case, the output of a large amount of print data (many users) has to be waited upon occurrence of the error and a range where the working efficiency deteriorates is widened.